Though Wired puts Google+ on its list of The Top 10 Things Nobody Cared About in 2011— and yeah, I probably visited G+ all of 12 times last year—it was the place where I discovered Roger Doiron's excellent TED talk, embedded above. Though he presents some pretty bracing infomation about agriculture, the population explosion, and the future of our food supply, his talk is funny and hopeful and totally worth watching, especially if you are one of those crazy people who'd like to rip out your lawn and grow corn and tomatoes instead. Doiron is the founder of Kitchen Gardeners International, a "community of over 20,000 people from 100 countries who are growing some of their own food and helping others to do the same, both near and far."
Even if you could give a toss about the politics of food gardens, KGI has a really dense, information-rich website filled with information about growing food plants, and cooking or preserving them in your own kitchen. There are gardender's forums, tons of recipes, a Q&A section, and contact information for "pods," groups of regional kitchen gardenrs who get together to swap seeds, tools and knowledge. If one of your 2012 goals is to start a veggie garden and you're not sure where to start, KGI may be your huckleberry. Or your blueberry. Or your purple calabash tomato.
